JP2545873B2 - Automatic tray switching device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic tray switching device capable of automatically switching trays in a series of copying cycles under the control of a copying machine.

[Conventional technology]

Figure 11 shows the basic configuration of a standard copying machine. 71 in Figure
Is a photosensitive drum, 72 is a developing machine, 73 is a charge corotron,
74 is a cleaner, 75 is a transfer corotron, 76 is a discharge lamp, 77 is a platen glass, 78 is an exposure lamp, 79 is a lens, 80 is an output tray, 81 is an upper tray, 82 is a lower tray, 83 and 84 are no paper sensors , 85 and 86 are paper path sensors, 87 is a paper ejection sensor, 88 and 89 are rollers, and 90 is a duplex tray.

The copying operation is performed as follows. When the operator presses the copy start button, the exposure lamp 78 emits light and moves in the direction of the arrow to illuminate a document (not shown) placed on the platen glass 77. The reflected light from the document is imaged on the photosensitive drum 71 by the optical system including the lens 79. The photosensitive drum 71 rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure
The residual toner is removed at 74, the residual charge is removed at the charge eliminating lamp 76, and the charge corotron 73 is uniformly charged. When an image of a document is formed on the photosensitive drum 71 in such a state, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 71. Then, the developing device 72 attaches toner to the electrostatic latent image. The toner image is transferred onto the paper by the transfer corotron 75. After the transfer, the cleaner 74 removes the residual toner from the photosensitive drum 71, and the charge removal lamp 76 removes the residual charge to prepare for the next copy.

The copy sheet is pulled out from the upper tray 81 or the lower tray 82 by rollers 88 or 89, passes through a sheet path sensor 85 or 86 as shown by an arrow, and various rollers indicated by circles in the figure, and a toner image is transferred by a transfer corotron 75, and further various types are transferred. roller,
Output to the output tray 80 by the belt.

The no-paper sensors 83, 84 detect the presence or absence of upper and lower sheets, respectively. Also pass sensor
85 and 86 detect whether or not the paper has passed.When the paper starts to pass these sensors, an ON signal is generated,
It is designed to generate an off signal when it has finished passing, and the paper ejection sensor 87 detects that the copied paper is the output tray.
It is to detect whether it is stored in 80. It is possible to detect whether or not a paper jam has occurred based on the outputs of these sensors.

It should be noted that, in the copying machine, either the upper tray or the lower tray is usually prioritized, and hereinafter, the lower tray is prioritized. That is, the copier supplies paper from the lower tray unless the operator specifies the upper tray, and the copier supplies paper from the upper tray only when the operator specifies the upper tray. .

The above is the structure and operation of a well-known copying machine.
The operation of each unit and the processing of each sensor output are performed by a control device (not shown) incorporated in the copying machine.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Now, let us consider a case of copying one original into a copy I and a copy II having different formats in such a copying machine. Such a case occurs, for example, when preparing a document for export. For exports, some destinations, package names, etc. are listed at the same place, but as a whole, several sheets of different formats are attached. In order to create such a document, as shown in FIG. 10 (a), a predetermined format is prepared from an original A in which data to be commonly copied such as a destination and a package name is written on a copy I in which one format is printed in advance. Copy the number of copies (step),
Next, after copying a predetermined number of sheets from the same original A to a copy II in which another format is printed in advance (step), it is necessary to collate the copy I and the copy II (step), which is troublesome. .

This is because the conventional copying machine cannot switch trays in a series of copying cycles, so copy I is set in the lower tray, copy II is set in the upper tray, and copy I is first supplied from the lower tray. Then, after copying a predetermined number of sheets, the operator specifies the upper tray and supplies copy II from the upper tray to make a predetermined number of copies, or first, copy I is set in the lower tray and after copying the predetermined number of copies to the lower tray. This is because it is necessary to reset II and copy a predetermined number of sheets from the same document.

The present invention is to solve such problems,
The purpose is to copy a predetermined number of sheets from the same original document onto a sheet having two or more types of formats in one copy cycle.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, the automatic tray switching device of the present invention is a copying machine having a plurality of trays and performing a series of copying cycles by the copying machine control device, and a sheet number setting means for setting the number of sheets to be copied from each tray for each tray. A mode setting means for switching between the automatic tray switching mode and the manual mode and an automatic tray switching control device are provided, and the automatic tray switching control device receives various signals from the number of sheets setting means, the mode setting means and the copying machine control device, In the automatic tray switching mode, the copying machine control device is made to perform copying from each tray for each number of sheets determined by the number of sheets setting means.

[Action]

In the automatic tray switching apparatus of the present invention, two or more types of sheets having different formats can be copied in one copying cycle, so that the operation is completed in one step and the copying operation is stopped halfway as in the conventional case. Since there is no such item, the copying time can be shortened.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an automatic tray switching device (Auto
matic Tray Switchig (hereinafter abbreviated as ATS), FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one configuration example of the operation panel, and FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic tray switching control device according to the present invention. 1 and 3, ATS1 is
The automatic tray switching control device 2 and the operation panel 3 are included, and the automatic tray switching control device 2 is connected to the copying machine control device 4 in the existing copying machine shown in FIG. That is,
The ATS of the present invention enables external control of the copying machine without changing the program of the existing copying machine by performing external mounting, and enables automatic tray switching during a series of copying cycles. is there. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the operation panel 3 is provided with a mode switch 3A for switching between the ATS mode and a manual mode which is a normal copying mode, and a switch 3B for setting the number of sheets to be copied from the lower tray and the upper tray. . In FIG. 2, the number of copies is set by using the + button for increasing the number and the one button for decreasing the number, but the number may be entered with the ten keys.

The control device 2 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, CPU5, ROM6, RAM
7, various I / O ports 8, 9, 10, interface 11, relay 1
2. An OR circuit 13 and gates 14 and 15. ROM6 stores necessary programs, and RAM7 is operation panel 3
The data and the like are temporarily stored. CPU5
Takes in and processes the upper and lower number of sheets input from the operation panel 3, the mode designation signal and various signals input from the copying machine control device 4, and sends back necessary signals to the copying machine control device 4 to the copying machine. The predetermined operation is performed.

Hereinafter, the operation of the control device 2 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the main task. When the power is turned on at 20, the initial state is set at 21. At this time, in (a) of FIG. 3,
Since the CPU5 is set to the H level, the coil of the relay 12 is not excited and is in the connection state shown in FIG.
Is turned on and the gate 15 is turned off. This is the same as a normal copying state. When the manual mode, which is a normal copying operation, is selected on the operation panel 3, the process branches from 22 to 23. When the main motor (not shown) in the copying machine is not rotating, a loop returning to 22 is formed again and it waits until the main motor is rotated. If the main motor is rotating at 23, it returns to 23 again, and only 23 will form a loop. This loop is provided to prevent the ATS mode from being activated even if the mode switch is accidentally pressed while operating in the manual mode. That is, as long as the main motor is rotating in the manual mode, it is not possible to escape from the loop of only 23, so the manual mode is maintained and 22 is judged only after the series of copying ends and the main motor stops. Therefore, even if the mode switch is pressed while operating in the manual mode (the main motor is rotating at this time), the ATS mode will not be entered.

As described above, in the manual mode, the relay 12 of FIG. 3 is in the connected state, the gate 14 is conductive, and the gate 15 is conductive.
Is non-conductive, a lower clutch ON signal a for operating a clutch (not shown) that connects a roller 89 for drawing the paper from the lower tray 82 in FIG. 11 to a motor (not shown), The upper clutch ON signal b connecting the roller 88 for drawing the paper from the upper tray 81 to the motor is returned from the copying machine control device 4 to the copying machine control device 4 via the relay 12 as it is. Further, the output C of the lower tray paperless sensor 83, the output d of the upper tray paperless sensor 84, the output e of the lower paper path sensor 86 and the output f of the upper paper path sensor 85 (hereinafter simply a, b, c, d, e, f) is returned from the copying machine control unit 4 through the gate 14 to the copying machine control unit 4 as it is from c ', d', e ', f'. As a result, a normal copying operation is performed. In this case, c, d, e, f are interfaces
Although it is also input to 11, it has no effect on the copying machine control device 4 because the CPU 5 ignores it.

Returning to FIG. 4, assuming that the ATS mode is set by the mode switch on the operation panel 3 at 22, the process returns to 22 when the main motor does not rotate at 24, and waits until the main motor rotates. If it's spinning, at 25
ATS mode is set. At this time, in FIG.
Is set to the L level by the CPU 5, so that the coil of the relay 12 is excited and connected in a state opposite to that shown in the figure, and a and b are input from the CPU 5 to the copying machine control device 4 via the relay 12. That is, the lower and upper clutches are controlled by the CPU 5. Further, since the gate 14 is made non-conductive and the gate 15 is made conductive, c output from the copying machine control device 4,
The d, e, and f are sent to the CPU 5 via the interface 11 and the I / O port 10, and the CPU 5 judges these signals and sends necessary commands to the I / O port 10, the interface 11, and the gate 15.
Then, it is sent to the copying machine control device 4 as it is from c ', d', e ', f'.

In this way, when the ATS mode is set at 25 in FIG. 4, the copy counter 0 in the CPU 5 is set at 26, and the lower set number and the upper set number are set to each counter at 27 and 28. It As described above, the setting of these numbers is performed by the operation panel 3 of FIG. When the number of copies is set, a clutch ON signal is supplied from the CPU 5 to the copying machine control device 4 via the relay 12, but when the clutch is not ON at 29, at 30 it is determined whether or not the main motor is rotating. If it is rotating, the process returns to 29 to wait until the clutch is turned on, and if the main motor is not rotating for some reason, go to A in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for judging whether a jam, that is, a paper jam has occurred. If 39 is YES, it means that the set number of sheets has been copied, and the process ends. If there is a jam in the lower tray, set the remaining number of sheets in the lower tray with 42, and if there is a jam in the upper tray, set the remaining number of sheets in the upper tray with 41. Redo. In 43, the operator intentionally presses the clear key and ATS
It is determined whether or not the mode has been released, and if the clear key is pressed, the process ends. This decision may be made before 39 or between 39 and 40. Next, at 44, it is determined that the ATS mode is continuing, and at 45, if it is determined that the main motor is stopped by the jam, the jam is removed and the motor waits until it starts to rotate. Return to C in FIG.

If the paper feed clutch is ON in 29 of FIG. 4, the process branches to 31, and it is first checked whether the lower counter is 0 or not. As described in the conventional example, in this case, the lower tray is prioritized, so the lower counter is checked first, and if the set number of copies in the lower tray has not been completed, the CPU 5 at 32 relays the relay 12. The ON signal of the lower clutch is generated in a via the main motor and the roller 89 of FIG.
And pull out the paper from the lower tray 82. And
At 33, the lower counter is set to -1 and the operation goes to B in FIG.

In FIG. 5, at 37, it is judged whether or not the paper feed clutch signal is ON, and if it is ON, it waits until the paper feed pulse signal is OFF. Detach. That is, the process of FIG.
Since the sheet is pulled out by the roller after the signal is generated and the clutch is disengaged, one sheet feeding cycle is performed.
It is provided to determine whether or not this cycle has ended. Returning to FIG. 4 from C in FIG. 5, the lower counter is checked again at 31. The above-described loop is repeated until the copying of the set number of sheets in the lower stage is completed, and when the copying is finished, the lower stage counter is 0, so that it is checked at step 34 whether or not the content of the upper stage counter is 0. If the copying of the set number of sheets in the upper stage has not been completed, the CPU 5 at 35 generates an upper stage clutch ON signal to b via the relay 12, draws the paper from the upper stage tray, and at 36, sets the upper stage counter to -1. Then, the processing shown in FIG.
Returning to FIG. 4C, the contents of the upper counter are checked again at 34. When the copying of the upper set number of sheets is completed, since the upper counter is 0, the process returns to 27. This completes copying of one original. If there are a plurality of originals, the originals are exchanged and the above-described processing is repeated.

In the above operation, since the program of the control device 4 in the copying machine is not biased at all, the lower tray is prioritized, and the copying machine always tries to send all the sheets from the lower tray, and is always a'in FIG. Generates a lower clutch ON signal from. This signal is taken into the CPU 5 via the OR circuit 13, and the CPU 5 detects this signal and generates a lower clutch ON signal to a if copying from the lower tray and to b if copying from the upper tray. Generates the upper clutch signal. The OR circuit 13 is connected to b'because the same operation is required even when the upper tray is selected by the operator.

Although the above is the processing of the main task, it is understood that the control device 2 controls the operation of the copying machine from the outside, so that tray switching is automatically performed during a series of copying cycles. As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), the copy 1 and the copy II are copied in this order.
Collaborative work becomes unnecessary.

Next, the processing of the copy counter task will be described with reference to FIG. This is for determining whether or not the number of sheets set in the lower and upper rows has been output, and is used for the processing of 39 in FIG. If it is determined that the ATS mode is not set in 46, the process ends. This is a normal copy cycle,
This is because the copy count may be left to the copying machine main body and does not need to be managed by the control device 2. If it is ATS mode at 46, determine at 47 whether the clear key was pressed,
If the clear key is pressed, the operator intentionally
Since the mode has been canceled, it ends. If the clear key is not pressed, it is judged at 48 whether the main motor is rotating.If it is not rotating, it waits until it is rotated, and if it is rotating, whether the discharge sensor is ON at 49. Determine whether or not. The discharge sensor (Fig. 11 87) turns on when the paper starts to pass and turns off when the paper has passed, so 49 is to judge whether the paper is passing or not. If the paper is not passing, the process returns to 46 and waits until the paper passes. If the paper is passing, determine whether the paper has finished passing at 51,
If the discharge sensor output is OFF, the copy counter is incremented by one. If the emission sensor output is not OFF at 51, the process returns to 50 and waits until the emission sensor output is OFF, but if the emission sensor output is never OFF, it means that a jam has occurred. Therefore, at 50, it will wait for the main motor to stop. That is, 50 is a process provided to prevent the copy counter from increasing to +1 when a jam occurs. When the copy counter is incremented by +1 in 52, it is then determined in 53 whether the content of the copy counter is equal to the sum of the lower set number and the upper set number. If they are equal, it means that the copying is completed. At 54, the copy counter is set to 0 in preparation for the next copying, and the processing is ended.

Next, the paper pass task will be described with reference to FIG. This is to determine whether or not the paper is pulled out from the lower tray or the upper tray. The paper path is detected by the paper path sensors 85 and 86 (Fig. 11), and is turned on when the paper starts to pass and turned off when the paper has finished passing. These signals are input from the copying machine control device 4 to e and f of the control device 2. Now, in FIG. 8, when it is judged at 55 that it is in the ATS mode, and at 56 it is judged that the main motor is rotating, at 57 it is judged whether or not the lower pass sensor is ON. It When it is judged to be ON by the input of FIG. 3E, the CPU 5 interprets it and the paper has finished passing through the pass sensor 86 to e'of the copying machine control device 4 through the interface 11 and the gate 15. Notify to that effect and end. When copying from the upper tray, the CPU 5 knows at 58 that the paper is passing by the output of the upper paper path sensor 85 input to f of FIG. 3, and sends a signal to e'to feed from the lower tray. Tell them you are paper. When it is detected at 85 that the paper has finished passing through the upper pass sensor 85, the CPU e '
To notify that the drawing of the paper from the lower tray is completed. The reason for performing such processing is as follows. In other words, in this case, the copier recognizes that it is moving only in the lower tray, as described above. If you continue to, the copier will judge it as a misfeed or a jam. In order to avoid such a situation, it is necessary to inform the copying machine that the paper is being fed from the lower tray even when the paper is being fed from the upper tray. In addition, in FIG.
The loop returning from 58 to 55 is the process of waiting until either the lower or upper paper path sensor is turned on, and the loop returning from 61 to 60 is the lower or upper paper path sensor. This is a process of waiting until it is turned off.

Next, the no-paper task will be described with reference to FIG. This is to detect that there is no paper in the tray,
When the no-paper sensors 83 and 84 shown in FIG. 11 detect that there is no paper, the copying machine control device 4 detects the ATS from c or d.
A signal is input to the control device 2 of the device 1. If it is judged at 63 that the ATS mode is set, then at 64 it is judged whether or not there is any paper in the lower stage. If the lower paperless sensor 84 is ON, the CPU 5 at 66 detects it by input c, and I / O
A signal is sent to c'of the copying machine control unit 4 through the port 10, the interface 11 and the gate 15 to inform that there is no paper in the lower tray. Similarly, when 65 detects that there is no paper in the upper tray, the CPU 5 also detects that there is no paper in the upper tray by the input of FIG. Send a signal to tell that there is no paper. If there is paper in either the lower tray or the upper tray, return from 65 to 63 and wait until one of the papers runs out. If it is not ATS mode at 63,
In FIG. 3, since the gate 14 is conductive and the gate 15 is non-conductive, the paperless sensor outputs c and d output from the copying machine control device 4 pass through the gate 14 and are directly transferred to the copying machine control device 4.
Since it returns to c'and d'of CPU 5, CPU 5 does not detect anything and ends as it is.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the predetermined number of sheets are first copied from the lower tray and then the predetermined number of sheets are copied from the upper tray. Alternatively, one copy may be made from the bottom and two copies may be made from the top.

It can also be applied to copiers with three or four trays by adding I / O ports. Also,
A suitable display device may be provided on the operation panel to give necessary instructions to the operator or to warn of an abnormal situation.

Further, when the ATS according to the present invention is used, it is not limited to the preparation of the export document illustrated above, but various uses such as the case where a predetermined number of sheets are copied from the same original onto different color sheets are conceivable.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the trays can be automatically switched during a series of copying cycles. Therefore, the copying time can be shortened depending on the contents of the job such as copying of the export document as illustrated. It is possible to save the trouble of collating, etc., and to have a very convenient function.

Further, the ATS according to the present invention can be installed without changing any existing copying machine.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an automatic tray switching device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one configuration example of an operation panel, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a control device according to the present invention. , 4th
FIGS. 5, 5 and 6 are flowcharts of the main task, FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the copy count task, FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the paper pass task, and FIG. 9 is no paper. Fig. 10 is a diagram showing a task flow chart, Fig. 10 (a) is a diagram for explaining the problems of the conventional method, Fig. 10 (b) is a diagram for explaining the effect of the present invention, and Fig. 11 is a standard diagram. It is a figure which shows the basic composition of a copying machine. 1 ... ATS, 2 ... control device, 3 ... operation panel, 4 ...
… Copier control device, 5 …… CPU5, 11 …… Interface, 12 …… Relay, 13 …… OR circuit, 14,15 …… Gate,
83, 84 ... No paper sensor, 85, 86 ... Pass sensor, 87 ... Ejection sensor.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. In a copying machine having a plurality of trays and performing a series of copying cycles by a copying machine controller, a number setting means for setting the number of sheets to be copied from each tray, an automatic tray switching mode and a manual. The automatic tray switching control device includes a mode setting means for switching the mode and an automatic tray switching control device. The automatic tray switching control device receives various signals from the number of sheets setting device, the mode setting device and the copying machine control device, and in the automatic tray switching mode, An automatic tray switching device for causing a copying machine control device to make a copy from each tray for each number of sheets determined by the number of sheets setting means. 2. The automatic tray switching control device according to claim 1, wherein the automatic tray switching control device is externally attached to the copying machine control device.